FORRESTON - The 1A Forreston Regional final between Aquin and Eastland was everything it was expected to be Friday. And it came down to one big shot from one clutch player.

Dalton Shaner's 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left was the game winner that lifted the Eastland Cougars to a 66-61 victory in a hard-fought battle with the Bulldogs.

Eastland advances to next week's River Ridge Sectional by surviving arguably the most difficult 1A regional in the state.

"It's probably one of the toughest 1A regionals if not the toughest," Shaner said, "And we've never won back to back regionals so we knew if we wanted that we'd really have to work for it here."

And work for it they did. The Cougars (23-4) trailed after every quarter except the final one. Aquin (24-6) led by eight points early in the second quarter before the Cougars pulled within two by halftime.

After a see-saw third quarter ended with Eastland down 49-46, the Bulldogs built a six-point lead early in the fourth before the Cougars battled back again, led by play of their go-to scorer. Shaner scored 14 of his game-high 30 points in the final quarter, and none were bigger than the last three, which broke a 61-61 tie.

"I knew they were going to bring a double team and I wanted to take that last shot, I wanted that to be on my hands," Shaner said. "I saw the double team so I just went opposite of it and got a pretty good look at the three and put it down. It was crazy. A lot of excitement."

Aquin had a chance to get off a tying shot with 3.4 seconds remaining, but Brighton Haverland stole the Bulldogs' inbound pass and promptly made two free throws with one second left to seal the victory, ending the season for a very good Aquin team much earlier than is probably deserved.

"It's the cards we were dealt," Aquin junior Aiden Chang said. "It hurts more knowing that if we were in a different regional I think we would've won the regional championship but I'd rather playing in a game like this than in a blowout every game."

Chang finished with a team-high 20 points, 13 of which came in the third quarter when he helped will the Bulldogs back into the lead after falling behind for a good part of the period.

"I'm extremely proud of our guys," Aquin coach Rich Chang said. "They played their hearts out. Everything that they've got is still out there (on the court). There's nothing left inside (the locker room) I can guarantee that."